Plant of the Week: Pieris-Andromeda

The Northeast has begun to show the colors of spring, shrubs are a blaze! The small leaf Rhododendrons have started and lead the procession of broadleaf evergreens that display their blooms at the start of the season, pale purple, and several shades of pink, and we are off!

The azaleas will pop open soon with the bright colors of pink, pure white, and brilliant reds! While all the flashy colors of the small leaf rhodies and azaleas blaze the path to the springtime garden of happiness.... off in a shaded corner stands the "Pieris, Japonica-Andromeda", a refined shrub, somehow it seems mature and stately, it stands as if, arms folded watching over all the goings on of the early spring blossoms, the matriarch of the landscape.

The Pieris-Andromeda is a classic New England foundation planting, most homes in the Northeast have substantial, tall foundations, the walls of the basement or “cellar” that project upward, on which the home sits upon. Some people find the field stone and concrete basement walls unsightly, so the foundation plantings are put in place to camouflage and hide the base of the home.

The Andromeda is simply beautiful! The understated, classy, broad leaf evergreen has long, slim, deep-green, waxy, leaves that hang in dripping clusters. The new seasons growth of leaves stand upright, above the old, and flush out with bright, red foliage. The shrub seems to grow in a layering pattern, the upright grow is graceful, all a glow.

The Andromeda will thrive in a part sun location, the shrub is best planted in a location of morning sun and afternoon shade, with well drained conditions but never parched. The plant can grow as wide as 4 feet across and as high as eight feet tall...I have seen it wider, and taller, planted in just the right

spot and it can live for decades.

The above specimen is easily ten feet in height and over eight feet wide!

The blooms of the Andromeda are “pretty special”, they come in the form of cascading white bells, the aroma of the dripping bells is a distinct one..... they smell like sweet grape soda, there is no other blooms in the plant kingdom that smells like they do! The blooms are long lasting, and the bush itself is strong, and a hardy, classic addition to any garden or landscape.There are many different varieties of Andromeda now available with flowers that are pink and even deep burgundy.

Plant an Andromeda by the foundation (it is slow growing) or plant an Andromeda out by the perimeter of your yard it is deer resistant!

Stop by your local Home Depot and shop for an Andromeda, look for the beautiful cluster of white bells of just follow your nose, this shrub is a sweet deal!